DEALS

Anclote’s Wicks adds title of AD

Gulf High School football coach Jason Messamore is hoping to have Ke’shaun Peters, above, and Avery Welch, below, on the field together for the first time since the spring game in 2013. ANDY JONES/STAFF

BY ANDY VILLAMARZOTribune correspondent
Published: July 13, 2014

Anclote High football coach Matt Wicks will be doubling up his work load at the school. The only coach the Sharks have known in their short history will now add the responsibility of athletic director, Wicks announced Tuesday.

Wicks joins Pasco’s Tom McHugh as the only two coaches in Pasco County that hold the dual duties of head football coach and athletic director.

“I got a text from Tom McHugh yesterday saying congrats,” Wicks said. “There’s other coaches in the area like McHugh and Mark Lee at Weeki Wachee that do both and I feel like I’m an organized enough person to take on both.”

Wicks will replace Heidi Michaels, who stepped away from the athletic director position after the 2013-14 school year concluded. Michaels will still remain at the school and take on a teaching position.

Wicks has led the Sharks to two postseason berths and in 2013 the school claimed its first district championship in football. Wicks will be heading into his sixth season as head coach at Anclote.

“Obviously there’s going to be a learning curve with this and I’m gonna have to rely on my coaching staff to help me out much more,” Wicks added. “We’ve added a few more coaches and I’ll actually have close to a full staff so it’ll be a good transition I think.”

Hudson OL Grayson Stover gets strong college interest

With recruiting starting to heat up in Pasco County, several top college prospects such as Pasco’s Bowman Archibald (University of Miami), Andrew Ivie (University of Florida) and Land O’ Lakes’ James Pensyl (Oregon State) have made their commitments.

Another big time Division I prospect is on the rise at Hudson, as offensive lineman Grayson Stover is starting to generate interest from some of the major colleges in the southeast. Hudson coach Mark Kantor said the 6-foot-6, 300-pounder has received interest from Florida, Miami, Auburn, Georgia, Vanderbilt and USC.

“He’s a big human being,” Kantor said. “I think his tenacity at the line of scrimmage is what’s catching everyone’s eyes. His ability to move for a big man is rare and he’s getting better every day. He’s got things to work on, sure, like drive blocking and his feet.”

Stover has already attended football camps at UF, UM and USF and will focus the rest of the summer on team workouts and preparing for the fall season. Kantor believes with Stover holding a high grade-point average (3.2) combined with his potential, Stover could see offers lining up in the coming months.

“When (Grayson Stover) is done at Hudson, he’ll be a four-year starter on the varsity for us,” Kantor added. “He’s got a lot of things going for him right now. He hasn’t missed a day of workouts and he preaches to the guys to never miss a day. He tells the guys to utilize the days of workouts that are available to them. When you put pads on him, he looks like a grown man playing amongst the boys.”

Gulf’s Peters, Welch participating in 7-on-7

The last time Gulf’s Keshaun Peters and Avery Welch were on the same field together in pads, the Buccaneers scored 49 points in a spring game loss to Weeki Wachee in May 2013.

Besides competing in some passing leagues together, the hope at Gulf has been to have both on the field for the 2014 season and Buccaneers coach Jason Messamore says they’re coming a little closer to making it a reality. Peters was academically ineligible for the entire 2013 season and Welch did not participate in Gulf’s 21-8 spring game victory against Weeki Wachee.

“We’ll know more here by August if both will be able to play this fall,” Messamore said. “Just having both of them on the field just gives all the other kids a lot more confidence. Just like any team, when you have our team’s best athletes playing, you’re naturally just going to do better.”

That has been the case at weekly 7-on-7 games at Anclote, as the Buccaneers have looked impressive with Peters and Welch in action. The hope is to have Peters available to play this fall and insert him at quarterback and move Welch to the running back position.

“Keshaun is more of a natural quarterback,” Messamore said. “Avery is more of a running back with a good arm. Keshaun is very athletic and brings that to the position. It’s not completely impossible that Peters would line up at receiver and Avery at quarterback.”

Correspondent Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.